British Airways is to make more than 100 pilots redundant, with pay-offs of up to £150,000 each, because of the decline in passenger numbers.

About 130 pilots have volunteered to take redundancy, with one year’s salary as severance pay. The move is expected to save the firm £20m in salary, pension and National Insurance costs.

A company spokesman confirmed that the airline had written to 500 of the 3,200 pilots employed,but said he did not expect the total number of cuts to exceed 100.

“We don’t expect there to be more than 100 approved for voluntary redundancy, but each pilot will get a personal quote, depending on their salary, for severance pay,” he said.

Balpa, the pilot’s union, supported the move, so long as no compulsory redundancies were made, a spokesman told Personnel Today.

“We’ve been in talks with British Airways for some time now which have been constructive and cordial, and these talks will continue,” he said. “Our chief aim is to ensure that there are no compulsory redundancies.”